Alba

The Hewntown Republic and more...

Part 2 in a series...also story-tellers.

Returning to Bag O’ Bones the party, bar Warick, delivered most of the vial to the Tengu’s father. It was at this point (somewhere in Nevada…Thrun) Warick was visited by a spectral vision of the very same man the rest of the part are trying to raise. He told him that he didn’t want to return to this world as Warick hadn’t acted out his vengeance, consequently coming to the conclusion that perhaps this is a good thing and returning to the world would leave him consumed with thoughts of revenge.

Knowing Elliam and Malx’s efforts were to be in vane Warick rode back in disguise, snatched up the vial and poured what remained into the mouth of the gnome sorcerer who tried to kill them earlier. The party rode out of town to question him in solitude. They learned from him that he was part of an organisation called ‘The Hidden Flame’ who are bedfelows with The Blackhand.

The day passed with them arriving at Skippin’ Stone to be stopped at the gate. The guard called upon them all by their first names saying the mayor requested an audience. Tension was high upon arriving at the mayors town house, they were led through to a large dining room to see their orc companions and Altaira dining and talking to mayor (a well-dressed halfling). He introduced himself as Balthazar Tin revealing that he had a proposition for them; if they permitted he would use the stories of their adventures as a vessel for promoting the laxing of laws in regards to mages. He brought up the orcs original intention of defeating Demongo and taking his powerful gem. Eventually agreeing to his plans they packed up with of scrolls and potions to battle his evil.

The overland journey to tomb was uneventful but showed the great change in the environment, the increasingly rocky terrain near Great Stone. The large lump of stone they were looking for showed no signs of use for centuries but had one distinct feature; a large staircase up the mountain. Following this up the mountain side it was clear that the place had been mined a long time ago. Entering a large cut stone stairway they came upon a hall with three routes; to the left, straight ahead and to the right.

After a little poking around they determined to head left to right checking each place one after the other. Starting with the left they found a bunch of little blue creatures that attempted to ambush, poison and kill the party with vermin. They were no match for the high-leveled lot. With the area ‘clear’ they decided to check out the straight ahead route. Upon walking through into a room that breached the gap to another larger room and Warick was shut in. Two cyclops appeared showing a good knowledge of Demongo. The party were told that the cyclops clan was destroyed by Demongo but these two managed to flee and that they had guarded the entrance ever since. They offered the party non-lethal combat as a means to see if the party could be tough enough to defeat the demon. The battle was dangerous but the party did emerge victorious.

After a short rest to heal up the stairs to Demongo’s tomb awaited. Ascending the stairs they were greated by a large, high-ceilinged, room cast in dim light. The ground was littered in bones and organic detritus culminating in a throne made of stone inset with skulls. As they approached Demongo slowly rose from the throne, a creature bathed in shadows with a chest constructed from a mish-mash of bones. The battle was long, Demongo conjured the souls of his fallen foes fleshed out with material from the plane of shadows. He stayed out of the majority of the combat except where chains holding the souls connected him to the battlefield. The party clued in that the etheral chains were connected to some extra dimensional space, so Malx latched onto a chain while the others began to lop and smash the links to pieces. Once every soul was loosed Demongo’s chains retracted into his body dragging Malx with him.

It was a shadowy smoky realm, simply filled with large urns filled with wriggling grub-like apparations…souls. Demongo was there also though not as the large shadow demon but a tiny quasit. He tried to barter for his life with Malx and then tried to intimidate him by turning into a goblin dog but all of this was to no avail and the kobold struck him down. This launched Malx back into reality.

With the demon defeated the doors to the room containing the gem opened. The room was highly decorative with the stem punching through holding the glowing green gem. Their companion upto this point, Lorgavv, suddenly stopped Warick in his tracks demanding that they leave and he would kill them if they tried to take the gem. He charged the Tengu pushing him into what appeared to be solid ground but infact was loose, supported only by weak (moving) roots from the plant that spawned the gem. They both risked falling what looked like over 100 feet to their deaths by grasping onto some of the roots and slowly pulling themselves up. They struggled for awhile revealing more and more holes with Malx and Elliam trying to aid their comrade without falling down themselves. The battle raged on for some time, Altaira rescuing Elliam from a nasty fall and Malx (aided by Warick) battling through a deadly melee with the orc before finally disabling him with a pinning move. They had tried earlier with Elliam’s web to stop his movement but this time good old rope and elbow grease were employed.

It seems his ‘masters’ wanted the gem to aid in a war effort, Lorgavv didn’t back down and eventually every single party member killed him as he tried to escape. With their ally-turned-enemy defeated the matter of the gem needed to be resolved.

Both Warick and Elliam placed a hand upon it, appearing to be imbued with its power.

Part 1 in a series.

Marie Silverhammer offered them the ressurection potion of her sworn enemy but it had to be delivered by his hand…luckily for the party he was an undead lich and dismembering his arm didn’t mean it would immediately stop functioning.

After the learning what had happened to Warick’s father and finding a potential way to reverse things the party eventually set-off to do this…however beforehand they stopped off back in Skippin’ Stone to raise Warick’s brother the conventional costly route. With this and a packful of supplies they headed back to the briefly familiar watch tower. Descending into the basement of the abandoned building they found several unlit braziers and a massive stone representation of a skull. Examining the skull they determined it had the magic of a phylactory imbued in it, though they were skeptical of that being its true natue. In investigating around the skull they discovered it was covering a secret door and could be moved with little strain. Before revealing the secret door Warick decided to light the braziers only to discover they had been covered in flash powder and a substance that made a lound bang upon ignition…evidently their foes would be aware of their presence.

With their eyes focused and ears stopped ringing they headed down into the earthern depths of what appeared to be an excavated cavern. Moving deeper in they were ambushed by a group of sub-human creatures that could crawl upon the walls and ceiling and launch jumping attacks from these positions. The fight didn’t take long as the creatures didn’t have the bite to stand upto the party members and were rapidly dispatched, being disabled frequently by a simply spell that blinded their sub-terranian eyesight. This lead onto a further tunnel with a very odd rock strata lining a large open part of the cavern…which at the bottom was guarded by skeletons. The battle was to be long and bloody because as soon as the first lot of patrolling skeletons were defeated the vile Morlock Lich Neem assaulted them with a second wave. This fight brought Warick to his knees, Elliam into hiding and put the fear of death into Malx. However the party would be the victors. They rounded the corner the lich had emerged from to discover he had been trying to dig out a massive crystal structure, a chaos amethyst…housing an old evil. Malx stared into it’s depths with Elliam close behind only to discover that Neem was beginning to reform within the gem and was conversing with some old ancient evil. The gem was destroyed by a swift blow from malx’s blessed quarterstaff and the day was saved…perhaps.

The heroes adventures so far

Bag O’ Bones – “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Orcs?”

The first adventure saw the basis for The Redeemers established. In light of the apathetic response of the townsfolk to the orc problem the new-formed party decided to do something pro-active. They knew where to find a holy artefact and some wealth in the forms of jewels in a temple to Eiarn, the dwarven creation deity. Once there they found the land had been scoured with an evil protected by a magical gem…which they initially attempted to take for themselves. Replacing it they were greeted by the angelic form of a saint that had fallen into obscurity. Marie Silverhammer was a member of the Order of the Shimmering Blades and was locked in a many year conflict with a powerful necromancer. In return for keeping the knowledge of the temple alive she gifted them all broaches with her blessing upon them. They returned victorious.
The next problem they sought to deal with was arming the scattered few civilians left. To deal with this they contacted the local blacksmith who asked for a magical gem to help him operate his forge. To do this they travelled into the noble district on the hopes a wealthy person had used a similar gem to heat their home. This introduced them to the first hint of the Tempests influence as part of the noble district was sealed under a large hill sprung right out of the surroundings themselves. The house they entered had a clearly magically influenced tree in the middle piercing the roof outwards. With brilliant planning they navigated and negotiated the various plant-life eventually coming face-to-face with a dryad. The dryad was clearly severely distraught and confused after a life stuck inside the containment of a city. She asked that they take her to a greener surrounding and in return she would get the gem for them thus saving them the danger of the upper floors. She transferred herself into the shoot of the large tree and they took her with some soil out to nearby portion of the Lost Woods. On the way to the woods they gave the gem to the blacksmith who agreed to make as many weapons as they needed for free but he would be able to go quicker if he had some weapons to simply repair. Upon returning after the planting they informed Altaira about the dryad and she rushed off quite flustered to commune with the creature.

To supply the smith with weapons they rather hap-hazardly gained the whereabouts of an old abandoned barracks from the last war. Upon arriving outside it they managed to read the name Goldenheart on the outside in old script…and a simplistic threatening sign written by kobolds. Inside they found evidence of a kobold gang and a trapped one too. They let him out to find out that the kobolds had been taken over by a trogolodyte and he had kicked up some complaints so got locked up. This is Malx. They slew the gang and the trogolodyte leader to find the weapons kept in an armoury. Upon entering they were faced with an earth elemental that had pierced through the stone slabs of the floor. Scattering hot coals over it and striking it several more times the elemental was defeated and they got some magical weaponry in return. However there was one unresolved issue, the troglodytes pet. Warrick took it upon himself to try and save the defenceless animal. Take note; never ever be nice to animals. It mauled Malx, nearly killed Warrick until a timely intervention from the wizard. They rushed back to put the kobold in care and the Tengu rushed on to get Altaira to return and heal the afflicted reptilian humanoid.
Finally they prepped the town for an all out attack. They set up barricades and traps throughout the town, getting the people of Bag O’ Bones into the inn. Seeing the war band had not arrived yet the party set out to a nearby watch tower. Staying there for the evening they observed the war band draw in to set-up outside the town. They returned to see the war band had set-up a large tent. There was a parlay and the party represented the town. This is when they found out about the disturbance in the Unwary Swamps.

Skippin’ Stone – “Skippin’ Stone Confidential”

A cloaked figure is always suspicious. Sadly more so is a kobold. Being a kobold being cloaked was the better alternative. However trouble brewed when Warrick decided to ingratiate himself with the underground of the town. This brought the suspicious small reptile into closer and closer scrutiny and suspicion. Eventually all of this collided with a dramatic theft of a bag of gold, followed by the summary arrest of the two bandits the next day. With the tengu and the kobold being interviewed Elliam sprung into action trying to relieve their plight with a testimony given using a magical disguise. Warrick (not privy to the mages plans) decided to exchange information for their freedom just as Elliam came to the rescue as a witness. They were let free after giving specific information about the Black Hand Gang who had hired them to commit the robbery. Throughout all this mischief and mayhem they paid the bail for a group of sea-faring orcish nomads. On the right side of the law Elliam was researching the Tempest as best he could and also trying to secure a boat for them which ended up being an unnecessary goal as the freed orcs had a vessel. In doing his research he passed on the tale of Marie Silverhammer to one of the Forgemaster temple priests.

Unwary Swamps – “Into the Heart of Darkness”

On their way across the lake, Cloudburst, Malx went above deck while Elliam and Warrick stayed below. Looking into the water Malx saw that clearly at some point there was a city here before The Tempest rained over it for nearly a month. As the day drew in and the swamp came into view they were set upon by a gang of boggarts riding crocodiles (one of great size). One-by-one the redeemers were captured in nets and one of their orc companions was felled in the skirmish and the boat torn about by the massive croc. They woke up in a rather grim circumstance. Covered head to toe in a sickly reddish-brown, in a sandy bottomed pit, watched by a boggart priest performing some kind of foul ritual. It was whilst escaping a tangle of cave-fishers that the ritual came to completion and the dark boggart croc god came to the surface. The fight became more and more desperate as the croc snapped at cave fisher and party alike. Eventually they pulled themselves out of the creatures reach just in time to see the priest come tumbling into his own ritual fire. A squadron of malformed lizardfolk (Bloodscales) were attacking nay exterminating the boggarts one by one. While the party brawled briefly they stayed their hand at the fights end as they were clearly not the intended targets of either side. Eventually all the lizardfolk and boggarts lay dead and the party rested briefly. It became apparent that the orcs wanted revenge for the death of their companion, brother, on the ship. So the party decided today was a good day to kill a god. Finding the components for the priest’s ritual they summoned the croc god into a trap. The floor was laid with punji sticks in the sand and the croc bombarded with fragile flasks of oil. With the help of the Orcish champion Lorgavv they managed to best the croc with Lorgavv nearly eaten by the god. Whilst an important distraction it was still a minor one as they boarded the lizardfolks’ war canoes and travelled deeper into the swamp. They came upon an odd structure of land, with the bloodscale village at the forefront, a ring surrounding a bubbling pool of a deep red ichor. It was a tough battle trying to get through the village with a direct confrontation with the fiendish chieftain. With the lizardfolk slain they moved on and over the pool and descended into the cave like depths in the centre. In here they found a river of ooze from which mephits emerged to sling spells at the party. Once the mephits were bested the final confrontation awaits. A water elemental corrupted by the ichor of a devil king struck out at the party as they approached. The battle was long but with many blows exchanged, each one ridding the elemental of a layer of the thick ooze. Eventually the ooze completely left the elemental that struck back against the defiling ooze in the swampland around them.

Skippin’ Stone/Bag O’ Bones – “The Sins of our Children”

Upon returning to Skippin’ Stone the party learned of several events that had occurred while they were yachting. The Orcish army had been enrolled into the defenders to fight back a new threat of sudden goblin attacks upon the farmland south of Hewntown, which revealed a growing army of fiends. However other rumours persisted which interested the party much more. There had been a raid upon the Seagall clan. Warrick raced over to find the place in tatters and a very angry Cawld. He said the Black Hand Gang had come to find him or his family, Cawld then directed them onwards to either save himself or his own family. What proceeded was a mad dash across the countryside by horse. Warrick in a moment of madness, stupidity or fear tried to stop his companions from following by attempting to blind the kobold. They arrived to find Bag O’ Bones in a similar state as the rest of Thrun, ruined. Houses had been destroyed and in the eerie silence only one note played through, a harmonica in the inn. Warrick (in slowing his allies) arrived first on the scene and almost knowingly strode into the ambush. The fight was long and bloody, a sorcerer was knocked out quickly but the were-rats and dark stalker proved a tough fight of flanking and interchanging blows. With a moment to catch their breath after the battle Warrick searched his family home to find one of his brothers pinned to a wall with daggers. The interrogation of the gnome was bloodless but his life was certainly at stake. He told them mixed clues of the creature that rampaged through the town. After a little more conversing they marched him through to the temple district where they believed the town folk had fled to. Arriving at ‘temple hill’ they were ambushed by a massive shambling mound of mud, bark and vines. This fight very nearly claimed Malx’s life but thankfully his allies did the upmost to destroy the creature. After the fight the door to the temple of Eiarn (where Warrick and Elliam had been before) was opened and the party hurried inside, Warrick stayed outside hiding hoping to disassociate himself with the town and build a fake cover of him being dead. The entire population of the town was inside with members of the Order of the Shimmering Blade trying to heal them. Warrick’s father Cawlth was propped up on an altar, a handprint burning deep into his chest a blackened fluid bubbling away. He passed on some gasped words at which point Elliam dashed outside to cast invisibility on Warrick so he could share the last few minutes of his father.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.